9 Trials
At the instance that Shinto entered the next trial room, he was immediately greeted by the breeze of cold air in the area. Moments after, the gates from behind him closed abruptly.
[ The cold ice crawls under your skin! Movement speed will be decreased by 15% whilst overall stamina usage will be increased by 20%. ]
[ -Trial 2: (Girzo lu Sbwil) will now shortly begin. ]
[ Wave Battle: Initiation (1/3) ]
[ Monsters will be spawning in 10 seconds. ]
[ 9. ]
[ 8. ]
"...!" Quickly as the entrance of the chamber closed, he was alerted by the notifications that the trial will soon begin. In a frantic manner to prepare himself for battle, his eyes skimmed over the unexplored lands. "An icy cavern this time?"
The area was filled to the brim by an unknown source of cold wind that fluttered endlessly around the fields. There were also multiple pillars of ice all around the cavern as well, with icy spikes adding to the decoration.
[ 7. ]
[ 6. ]
[ 5. ]
"With the environmental debuff, I'll need to cut my usage of stamina to persevere to the end since this is an endurance battle," he thought to himself whilst glancing over to the skills on his skill list, where most of them had gone off cooldown. "Lunar Moon and Tidal Moon are still out of commission, but I can make do without them."
Nodding his head, Shinto's focus became sharp as the timer's remaining time continued to diminish.
[ 4. ]
[ 3. ]
[ 2. ]
[ 1. ]
[ The wave battle commences! ]
[ Time Limit: 10 Minutes. ]
[ Goal: Kill all 35 Monsters to proceed onto the next wave. ]
As the wave began, a flurry of cold frigid air blew over him in almost an instant. Then, countless icicle-like attacks soon protruded out from every angle, all aimed in a single direction of where the young man stood.
"...!" With the immediate attacks from the monsters that spawned, Shinto hurriedly leapt backwards whilst deflecting off the icy projectiles with his sword. However, his evasion was cut short by the blizzard-like storms flung in his direction. "Damn... They don't give you a moment's notice to scan the enemies, huh?"
Holding onto Kurogane, Shinto swept the blade across in an arc as he dispersed away the blizzards surrounding him. Soon after, with the fog temporarily gone, he eyed his enemies nearby, where he noted a variety of monsters in the distance.
"Frozen slugs, frost golems and ice elementals..." he muttered to himself as the grip on his sword tightened. "Hmm... I see. All enemies commonly found in a snowy region."
After sizing up the number of foes within his vicinity, he sprung forward towards the western area of the field and soon launched an attack against the group of slugs clustered together.
[ Lunar Sword Technique: Moonlit Wave ].
With a green waving light colliding against the slugs with icicles all around its body, Shinto immediately connected another skill to his combo—[ Light Ascension ], in which the monsters were quickly enveloped by a pillar of light, turning them into grey ash.
"Groaaa..." Without a moment to rest after killing the slugs, the frost stoned golems sluggishly approached Shinto whilst raising their arms into the air, preparing to strike the ground. Meanwhile, hurricanes of frigid cold winds followed up from behind them.
"...four golems at 3 o'clock," jumping back to avoid the shredding cyclones, Shinto glanced over towards the direction of where the attacks came from. There, he saw a group of ice elementals standing by the back of the golems whilst chanting out a spell to intercept Shinto.
However, their plan was placed to a halt as Shinto swiftly dived headfirst towards the elementals, despite them hiding behind the golems. With his eyes lighting up in a white hue, his blade flashed a cold glint of light.
[ Lunar Sword Technique: Lunar Flurry ].
In succession to his attacks, Shinto meticulously aimed them all over to the ice elementals—soon knocking them back and interrupting their magic. At that moment, one of his passive skills activated.
[ Swordsman Aura: Swift Swords ].
Swift Swords was a passive skill that was unlocked at the level of 100 for the swordsman class. For every basic or skill attack used, there would be a 30% chance of increasing the user's Strength and Speed by 10% for 30 seconds.
Thus, with the passive ability activating, it allowed Shinto to successfully melt through his enemies without any difficulties. In the end, only the golems were left on the premises.
"Groaa..." As if fuming with anger at the disappearance of their allies, the giant arms of the monsters swiftly slammed down onto the ground where Shinto had been standing. Soon after, countless frozen spikes protruded out of the icy stone surface.
"...!" Taking note of that, Shinto hurriedly dodged the attack as his attention now turned to deal with the remaining enemies. "A few more golems left and I'm done with this wave."
The passive buff still remained on Shinto, and so, he swiftly took upon the opportunity to rush forward to the golems and continuously slash at them. With his rising Strength and Speed buff that could stack up to a total of 50% per activation of the skill, he defeated the mobs in the next moment—successfully finishing up the first wave in under five minutes.
[ Wave one has been cleared! ]
[ Wave Battle: Continuation (2/3) ]
[ Wave two begins! ]
[ The wave battle commences! ]
[ Time Limit: 20 Minutes. ]
[ Goal: Kill all 50 Monsters to proceed onto the next wave. ]
"Tch..." At the sight of the immediate greetings of the wave battle continuing on without a breather, he clicked his tongue. "Damn... No breaks? Hah... My stamina is going to drain at this point even if I don't end this quickly."
Much like the first wave, the second one was no different. Shinto was bombarded with attacks at the start, however, he managed to push through the enemies and swept the monsters away, leaving only one enemy alive—a golem.
"Groaa..." In an attempt to chase after Shinto who had distanced himself miles away from the lone enemy, the monster paced his way toward the young man slowly. With that, it allowed an interval for Shinto to gain a breather and let his skills go off cooldown. After a while, he killed the golem and proceeded on with the final wave, where he easily swept through it due to his recovered resources.
[ The final wave has been cleared! ]
[ You have obtained (Torn Page of [???] #8) ]
[ With the passing of the second trial, the icy verse of the caverns melts away - allowing you to go on with trial three. ]
As soon as Shinto finished up the trial of ice, he was quickly shaken up by a certain rumble as the ice pillars by the end of the room slowly broke apart. Soon after, an obelisk was revealed.
[ The glacial has broken and so one of the ten obelisks has revealed itself. ]
"Oh? Another one?" he tilted his head at the sight. "So it seems that every room has an obelisk..." walking up towards the frozen slate, he began scrutinizing it.
The sixth obelisk depicted a mural of a lonely child, cursed with eternal winter. She who wielded the power of ice was branded a monster, and thus was forced into a cold icy cavern, much to where Shinto was currently at.
"...a child of ice?" he thought to himself as he was reminded of a legend of a cursed child that excelled in the arts of eternal winter. She was given the title of (Frozen Nova). "Ugh... No matter how many clues I've gotten so far, this doesn't really make sense at all."
While still pondering on the matter, his gaze averted towards his front, to see a passageway, presumably one that had originally been blocked off by ice before melting away due to the clearance of the trial.
"...hah. Onwards to the next room," scratching his head, he walked into the next trial room, one that was related to thunder. "Let's see what this one is about."
[ -Trial 3: (Girzo lu Hglin) will now shortly begin. ]
[ An unknown fog has spread around the area! Players caught in the mist will have their vision hindered. ]
[ Thunderous roar erupts down to the land, at random intervals, lightning will strike down anywhere except for the safe zones. ]
Trial three was completely different from the last two. Rather than a battle, this trial instead tested one's capabilities of their senses. From hearing to instincts.
"...so my vision will be cloudy when I enter the danger zone?" Shinto murmured to himself as he looked around the area. It appeared that the goal required him to reach the end of the room unscathed. "This might be a little tedious... But, it's doable."
Within the game of Spiritual Warriors, all senses were exactly the same as how one would feel in real life. Taste, touch, hearing, smell and sight. There were no differences in feeling. They felt surreal, almost as if it wasn't even a VRMMO. However, there were key contrasts between reality and in-game. For one, the feeling of pain is greatly reduced when receiving mortal wounds or cuts. Instead of crippling pain, it'd only be a tinge, like a needles' touch.
[ You have successfully reached the end of the chamber! ]
[ You have obtained (Torn Page of [???] #7) ]
[ With the passing of the third trial, the fog dissipates away, allowing sight once again. Thereafter, the door to the finale awaits you. ]
With certain difficulty, Shinto successfully made it through the third trial. There, he was greeted by the sight of a tesla-shaped obelisk on one end of the room, and a monolith on the other. In front of him, was a stone gate, waiting to be opened.
"Hoh...? Another monolith?" Spotting the monolith within his eyes, his curiosity piqued. Unlike the two stone pillars he had seen, this structure was unusual. It was in the form of a crystal. "Hmm... Odd."
Just before he walked up towards the monolith, Shinto made his way to the obelisk on the other side of the room and checked up on its details.
With a mural of a chivalrous knight holding his shield against the foes of darkness, the seventh obelisk depicted that of a man, who seemed to have vowed loyalty and protection to the one who he was protecting. Without any hesitation, he slew the enemies in front of him.
"So it's a chivalrous knight this time?" he thought to himself. There was a legend of a knight who had sworn his loyalty to a king. With a code of honour, the man placed himself on the front lines, to serve and protect—putting loyalty over doubts. He was a man who only knows to follow a chivalrous path, refusing to let his will waver, even at death's door. "So there are seven obelisks now. Yet... I still can't connect the dots."
A Bladedancer of Elementals, a Great Magician, a Priest, a Huntress, a Blacksmith, a Cursed Child and an Unwavering Knight. What could these legends possibly mean? Even with seven out of ten obelisks found, it seemed that he needed the last three for the bigger picture to come.
"Hah... Three more to go. But it seems that we're on the last trial?" In his line of thought, Shinto soon made his way toward the monolith. As he was about to interact with it, he received a sudden strange notification: a quest.
